Homeserve lines up successor to CEO Harpin

Homeserve, which lost 55pc of its stock market value after admitting to a
mis-selling scandal last autumn, is lining up chief operating officer Martin
Bennett to take over from chief executive Richard Harpin.

Mr Bennett, the former chief financial officer who was only promoted at the end of January, is named in documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph as a potential successor.

Homeserve

The document – drawn up to aid the recruitment of Mr Bennett's replacement – also suggests Mr Bennett could become UK chief executive of Homeserve, which provides emergency insurance cover for boilers and other domestic appliances.

The company hit the headlines at the end of October after an internal review found its telesales staff had been mis-selling policies. As a result, it stopped sending out mail shots and suspended all new customer calls. In November, Mr Harpin said the incident would lead to one-off costs of £10m and £10m of annual restructuring costs.

Sources close to Homeserve pointed out that the document reflected the company's standard long-term succession planning procedure, and that any future search would look externally as well as at existing contenders.

It is understood Mr Harpin, who owns 12pc of Homeserve, remains committed to the company.